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'Weather whiplash' swamps Midwest

The Coast Guard says it received reports that multiple barges broke loose and struck the Jefferson Barracks Bridge. The bridge crosses the Mississippi River in Missouri.
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Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
12:37 p.m. MST April 22, 2013

Flooding descends on the Midwest mere months after drought disrupted river traffic.

A garbage can floats past a disabled van on a street in Plainfield, Ill., on April 18, after torrential rains that began the day before caused widespread flooding.(Photo: Matthew Grotto, Southtown Star)

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States of emergency have been declared in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri.

More rain is expected across the region Tuesday into Wednesday.

Earlier this winter, record low water levels along the Mississippi River disrupted barge traffic.

Coast Guard closes the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, Miss., after barges hit a railroad bridge.

Only a few months after a historic dry spell disrupted barge traffic on the Mississippi River, deadly floods brought soggy havoc over the weekend across the upper Midwest, and more flooding is in store this week along many rivers.

"Torrential rain last week, concentrated in two days or less, has led to major flooding in parts of the Midwest," said AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. "In some areas, flooding will continue well through the upcoming week."

On Sunday, the Coast Guard closed the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, Miss., after barges hit a railroad bridge there and about 30 barges broke free from the towboat Captain Buck Lay.

Nine towboats — six bound upriver and three heading downriver — with a total of 134 barges were waiting to get through Sunday evening, Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Tippets said. He said three barges carried grain and the rest held coal.

"I haven't heard any word on how much of that has gotten into the water. I'm not sure which ones sank," Tippets said.

One barge sank in the traffic channel, Tippets said. Two others were partly submerged and pushed against the bank, a third was pushed up on a river dike and the rest had been collected, he said.

The National Weather Service said many tributaries of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are forecast to reach, surpass or remain at major flood stage over the next several days.

Flooding has been blamed for three deaths so far: two in Indiana and one in Missouri. In all three cases, vehicles were swept off the road in flash floods. High water also could be responsible for two more deaths in Illinois.

States of emergency have been declared in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. Residents have been evacuated and roads and bridges have been closed in the affected areas.

More rain is expected across the region Tuesday into Wednesday, The Weather Channel reported.

AccuWeather meteorologist Evan Duffey said that rain will be less intense for most of the hard-hit areas, but there is still the risk of flooding in a few locations.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., Johnny Cartwright said Saturday that raging floodwaters were coming into his apartment's basement and parking garage "like the Titanic." The Grand River in Grand Rapids peaked at 21.85 feet Sunday night, topping the previous record of 19.64 feet set in 1985, the weather service reported Monday. Flood stage is 18 feet.

At the Woodland Marina in St. Charles County, Mo., Harbormaster Joe Boarman watched his parking lot fill up with 3 feet of water in a day's time. And, just because they float doesn't mean flood water isn't a threat to the millions of dollars' worth of boats docked at one of the largest marinas on the Mississippi.

Boarman said he hasn't seen water levels like this since 2008, and as the water continues to rise he expects by Tuesday his office will be flooded.

He said his main concern is "just debris coming down the harbor. You see whole trees and everything else floating by."

In Clarksville, Mo., the Mississippi River is running out of its banks, flooding homes and farmland, but it looks as if the round-the-clock sandbagging operation is working.

The river crested in Clarksville around 34.7 feet on Sunday, which is earlier than expected and about a foot lower than anticipated. Volunteers have been working tirelessly since Thursday to save the town.

The rains that fell in a 24-hour period last week over northern Illinois are expected only once every 40 years, Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters said.

Major flooding is expected along a 250-mile stretch of the Mississippi from Quincy, Ill., to Thebes, Ill., this week, Masters said.

Flood damage this month in Illinois, Michigan and Missouri likely will run into hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

The wild swing from record dry to record wet has been what Weather Channel meteorologist Michael Palmer calls an "incredible reversal of fortune."

Volunteers and government officials monitor the sand bag wall holding back the Illinois River on April 24 in Peoria, Ill. (Photo: Seth Perlman, AP)

Residents deal with the high water in Grafton, Ill. Rain added more water to swollen rivers that are now expected to remain high into next month. (Photo: Derik Holtmann, Belleville News-Democrat, via AP)

Mike Branchik returns to dry land using a makeshift walkway from his home as the Illinois River floods homes in Peoria Heights, Ill. Floodwaters are rising to record levels along the Illinois River in central Illinois. (Photo: Seth Perlman, AP)

Bob Patton, a Hardin, Ill., public works employee, wades through Illinois River floodwaters to close the gates to the city's sewer plant. Patton and a fellow employee were getting diesel fuel from the plant to put into pumps the city is running near the riverfront. (Photo: John Badman, The (Grafton, Ill.)Telegraph, via AP)

AmeriCorps member Cody Turner directs a hose pumping flood waters back into the Mississippi River on Monday in Clarksville, Mo. The swollen river has strained a hastily erected makeshift floodwall in Clarksville, creating trouble spots that volunteers were scrambling to patch. (Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

Barricades block Main Street in Grafton, Ill., near its intersection with Illinois Route 3. Floodwaters from the Mississippi River have closed the main entrance to the town forcing residents to use a back road. (Photo: John Badman, The (Grafton, Ill.)Telegraph, via AP)

Mike VanBlair opens the front door of his home in Moline, Ill., after wading through his flooded front yard. He was forced to evacuate his home Saturday after the five pumps he was using to remove water from his basement failed to keep the water out. (Photo: Paul Colletti, The Dispatch, via AP)

Sgt. First Class Nathan Jeffries of the Missouri National Guard 3175th MP Company from Warrenton, Mo., places sandbags on a trouble spot in a temporary levee in Clarksville, Mo. (Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

Floodwater from the Grand River crests on April 22 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate their homes as the Grand River crested at over 21 feet -- 2.2 feet above a record set in 1985. (Photo: Emily Zoladz, The Grand Rapids Press, via AP)

Joe Biggerstaff wades away from his mother's home on Konkle Drive north of downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., on April 21. The rising Grand River has driven hundreds of people from their homes in several western Michigan communities. (Photo: Chris Clark, AP)

Volunteer Phil Rosborough checks the sump pumps around Gurnee Community Church after the building was surrounded by floodwaters from the Des Plaines River. "We are keeping the inside dry," said Rosborough. "It is all hands on deck. The downtown area of Gurnee was closed because of flooding. (Photo: Gilbert R. Boucher II, Daily Herald via AP)

A member of the Missouri National Guard looks out over the Mississippis floodwaters from a sandbag levee in Clarksville, Mo. The community, has been working since Wednesday to build a sandbag levee that seemed to be holding as the crest, expected to be 11 feet above flood stage, approaches. (Photo: Jeff Roberson, AP)

Floodwaters from the Grand River rush under the Fulton Street bridge in Grand Rapids, Mich. The U.S. 131 bridge, left, and the Fulton Street bridge have been closed because of flood waters. Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell declared a state of emergency as the flooding Grand River poured into basements of several hotels and other downtown buildings. (Photo: Cory Morse, The Grand Rapids Press, via AP)

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Earlier this winter, record low levels on the Mississippi River disrupted barge traffic.

This sort of "weather whiplash" will become more common in the years ahead because of climate change, Masters said.

As of Monday morning, more than 170 gauges were in flood stage along rivers in the upper Midwest, according to the weather service. This included 44 gauges registering "major" flooding.

The Mississippi River also remains in moderate to major flood stage across Missouri, AccuWeather said. The Mississippi at St. Louis is forecast to crest Thursday at "moderate" flood stage before falling.

In Illinois, record flooding has been been detected at about a dozen river gauges, the Weather Channel reported. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn declared at least 44 counties disaster areas from flooding.